Genesis
Accelerate your startup's growth
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The Genesis bi-annual accelerator supports startup founders through mentoring, education and connection with a supportive entrepreneurial community.
Since 2008 Genesis has supported over one thousand University of Sydney alumni, students and staff to accelerate their startups. Genesis alumni have gone on to raise well over $50 million in funding and be accepted into programs such as Y Combinator and StartX by Stanford.
Twice a year, we accept the best startups from across the university community. Participants gain one-on-one access to industry mentors and advisors, a database of entrepreneurship resources, networking events and industry exposure.
The Genesis program culminates in a Finale, where the top five startups pitch to win $30,000 of equity-free funding and a range of bespoke coaching and support opportunities.
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Access to the University of Sydney's community of mentors and founders |
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Access to the University of Sydney startup job board |
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Access to a growing database of entrepreneurship resources |
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Access to 1-1 mentoring and advice |
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Invitations to masterclasses, networking and alumni events |
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Ongoing social media exposure and promotion |
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Chance to win the Genesis Prize, valued at $30,000 |
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Support with finding and writing grants |
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The winner of the pitch competition at the Genesis Finale is awarded the Genesis Prize of A$30,000 equity-free funding, as well as ongoing support from Genesis. All finalists have the opportunity to compete for the People’s Choice and other awards.
Genesis does not take any equity (or a financial share) in your business. All grants paid to Genesis Program recipients are entirely equity-free.
Genesis is open to startups where at least one of the founders is a University of Sydney student, alumni, researcher, academic or professional staff. You can apply as a solo founder or as a founding team. Other team members can be external to the University.
Teams can add or remove people throughout the program; however any changes must be advised to the Sydney Genesis team and a new team agreement may be required.
You'll be guided through the application process, which includes creating your personal and startup profiles on our platform.
You’ll need to answer some questions about your startup, including a summary of the problem you’re solving, your solution and how it works, target market, business model and any traction. You’ll also need to provide your student or staff ID number to confirm eligibility.
You’ll need to make and upload a short (maximum two minutes) video pitch summarising:
Please note, video quality is not important; we just want to see and hear you present your startup to us. Applications without a video are considered to be incomplete.
Startup ideas are only eligible if the business idea submitted originated from one or more members of the team and the intellectual property (IP) belongs or is available solely to the team members.
The program is open to teams that may rely upon IP owned by third parties, such as patented technology developed by companies or Universities. It is not necessary at the time of entry to have negotiated licenses or other agreements to use these ideas.
In order to participate in the program, you need to provide accurate, complete and reliable information about your idea and your team. All information submitted will be treated confidentially. Non-disclosure agreements will not be signed with any team.
A standard cohort of ten startups (teams or individuals) will be admitted into the Genesis startup accelerator program.
Teams enrolled in any other business competition run by the University of Sydney, for example, Incubate, can also apply to the Genesis program with the same idea.
Please note that any cash prize payments will be made to a nominated bank account, and responsibility for distribution rests with the account holder.
We encourage you to maximise the support you can gain throughout the program.
Founders are required to attend five in-person events during Genesis: the program kick off, three goal nights and the Finale. These events are usually on a Wednesday evening at our CBD campus.
In addition, there are a number of master classes and online sessions, plus the opportunity for 1:1 coaching sessions with our mentors. The five startups who make the most progress during the program and meet our other criteria are selected to pitch at the Finale.
You must attend all sessions to graduate from the program with a course badge.
During the Genesis program, you’ll gain ongoing support and encouragement from your mentors and the Genesis team.
Throughout the program, you’ll:
Yes, you can enter as a solo founder or with a team of any size. Teams are typically composed of two to four people.
Yes, and note that at least one of the founders must be undertaking their studies or research at the University of Sydney, whether they are undergraduate, postgraduate, post doctorate etc. Other team members can be external to the University.
Please note we expect startups to have reached a minimum level of development, for example, to have completed a proof of concept or MVP of their solution, so they can benefit from the mentorship provided in the program. Startups at the idea stage would benefit from completing Sydney University’s Incubate program to test and validate their idea before applying to Genesis.
At least one of the founders must be a University of Sydney student, alumni, researcher, academic or professional staff. Other team members can be external to the University.
We accept startups from any industry or sector. We’re interested in AI, Saas, enterprise tech, healthcare software and hardware solutions, fintech, biotech, climate tech, consumer technology and more. For deep tech solutions we will need to understand what stage of development you’re at to ensure your startup is ready to benefit from the mentorship provided in the program.
If you have any questions not answered here or want to discuss your application with us, please reach out to our team at sydney.genesis@sydney.edu.au.